5.  The applicants, all siblings, were born in 1921, 1916, 1927, 1928, 1934 and 1943 respectively and live in Kavaja and Durrës, Albania.
6.  During the communist regime several plots of land and two shops owned by the applicants’ father were confiscated by the authorities without payment of compensation. The property, measuring in total 46,000 sq. m (the land) and 150 sq. m (the shops) (“the relevant property”), was situated in the Kavaja region.
7.  On an unspecified date the applicants lodged an application with the Kavaja Property Restitution and Compensation Commission (Komisioni i Kthimit dhe Kompensimit të Pronave – “the Commission”) under the Property Act, seeking to have the relevant property returned to them.
8.  On 7 June 1995 and 20 September 1996, respectively the Kavaja Commission upheld the applicants’ title as joint owners of two shops and a plot of land measuring 15,500 sq. m. Not being able to restore the relevant property in its entirety, the Commission ruled that 10,000 sq. m of the relevant property was to be returned to the applicants and that they were entitled to compensation, under the Property Act, in respect of the remaining 5,500 sq. m of land and the shops. Moreover, it decided not to rule on the adjacent plot of land measuring 30,500 sq. m, since agricultural property was outside its jurisdiction: rather the District Land Commission was the competent body pursuant to the Land Act (Law no. 7501 of 19 July 1991).
9.  On an unspecified date, in compliance with the Kavaja Commission’s decision of 20 September 1996, the applicants took possession of the plot of land measuring 10,000 sq. m.
10.  Notwithstanding the applicants’ requests, to date, the authorities have failed to comply with the parts of the Commission’s decisions of 7 June 1995 and 20 September 1996 relating to the payment of compensation in respect of the shops and the plot of land measuring 5,500 sq. m.
11.  On an unspecified date the applicants lodged an application with the Kavaja Land Commission (“the Land Commission”), attached to the Kavaja Municipality, claiming property rights in respect of the plot of land measuring 30,500 sq. m.
12.  On 11 November 1998 the Land Commission upheld the property claims of the applicants Sh. Ramadhi, R. Kapedani and R. Ramadhi (“the first three applicants”) and dismissed those of the applicants Xh. Ramadhi, D. Ramadhi and N. Ramadhi (“the last three applicants”) on the ground that the latter were not eligible to claim property rights over agricultural land, in so far as they were not resident in the area where the land was located.
13.  The first three applicants entered their ownership of the property in the Land Register. According to the ownership certificates, the applicants’ titles nos. 462, 460 and 461 corresponded to the plots of land registered in the Register as nos. 89/15, 89/16 and 89/17 respectively.
14.  On 7 April 1999 the Land Commission, further to a request by the Ministry of Justice, declared the first three applicants’ titles void on the basis that the decision of 11 November 1998 conflicted with substantive laws.
15.  On 25 November 1999 the first three applicants initiated proceedings in the Durrës District Court, claiming property rights over the relevant property.
16.  On 4 February 2000 the Durrës District Court annulled the Land Commission’s decision of 7 April 1999 and ordered the Land Commission to examine de novo the first three applicants’ claim to be given title to the plot of land measuring 30,500sq.m. The judgment became final at the latest on 6 March 2000.
17.  On an unspecified date the Kavaja District Court issued a writ for the enforcement of the judgment of 4 February 2000.
18.  On 14 February 2001, by letter no. 151/h, the Bailiff’s Office ordered the Kavaja Municipality to comply with the District Court’s decision of 4 February 2000.
19.  On 7 May 2001, by decision no. 366, the Kavaja Municipality held that it had no jurisdiction to enforce the decision on the ground that the Kavaja Land Commission, which would originally have had jurisdiction, had been dissolved pursuant to the Instruction of 8 November 1999 by the city’s mayor.
20.  On 8 January 2003, the newly established Kavaja Land Commission, in compliance with the District Court’s judgment of 4 February 2000, upheld the validity of the first three applicants’ titles nos. 462, 460 and 461.
21. The applicants maintained that the property issue was still unresolved since the local authorities had transferred the above-mentioned plots of land to third parties, so that the Commission decision was thus ineffective in practice. Entries in the Land Register indicate that the plots of land registered as nos. 89/15 and 89/16 (corresponding to the applicants’ titles nos. 462, 460) are currently owned by third parties and the applicants maintained that third parties had built on the third plot of land corresponding to title no. 461. The Government maintained that the applicants had failed to register their title to the relevant property in the Land Register in order to take possession of the property in question and did not comment on the applicants’ submission concerning the transfer of the property to third parties.